Money holders for motor vehicles



April 1958 A. J. BERARDINELLI 2,829,777

MONEY HOLDERS FOR MOTOR VEHICLES Filed Sept. 11, 1953 INVENTOR ANTHONY BERARDINELLI ATTORNEY United S at t 2,829,777 1 MONEY HOLDERS FOR MOTOR VEHICLES Anthony J. Berardinelli, Yonkers, N. Y. Application September 11, 1953, set-tame. 379,493

1 Claim. (c1.2 11--49 The present invention relates to, containers and more particularly to devices for holdihg-coins,currency and script or coupons in motor vehicles and the like. i

In recent years, the widespread prevalenceof parking meters, toll roads and bridges. and th e'lik'e have made it increasingly necessary for the average motorist to have a supply of coins of various denominations and even a few dollar bills near at hand practically whenever and wherever he drives his automobile. The customary parking meters accept only pennies or nickels, bridge and tunnel tolls usually range between ten cents and seventy-five cents, while automobile ferries and modern superhighways frequentlyv exact .use charges in excessof one dollar; Where motorists regularly use some trafl'ic facility, as in commuting or pursuinga fixed sales or delivery route, it is common practice to make available and advantageous for-such motorists to purchase books ofscript, tickets or coupons attreduced rates.

It is the general practice of highway departments, in an effort to expedite toll collection and reduce trafiic obstruction caused by such collection, to post .roadside signs on the. approaches to toll collection stations informing motorists of the amount of the toll, instructing them to reduce speed, and to have their toll money ready. At the firsttnotice'of sucha sign, and particularly when driving along, the motorist-. starts, searching his pockets for loose change; his Wallet; or hiscoupon book, a" process which takes at least one handfrom the steering Wheeluand .a largeapart of the drivers attention from the road at a time when distractions are most dangerous, i. e., when. traflic is massing and maneuvering into lanes preparatory to entering the toll stations.

If a coupon book is the 'objec't'of the search, and the driver succeeds in finding and getting the book out before he is at the toll gate, the next hazardous operation usually attempted is the detachment of a single coupon while driving the car. While admittedly such procedures 7 are :notin keeping with safe and proper driving technique, it iscomrnon practice because. of human nature and fostered by traflic conditions generally encountered at toll collection stations.

Failing to find the proper change or to detach the coupon in time, the driver must come to a complete halt at the toll house, and Wait for change or detach the coupon. While this may take but afew seconds, on a crowded, high-speed highway, the toll station becomes a bottleneck which causes traific to back up for. appreciable distances, and the searching operation indulged in by drivers on the approaches thereto is the frequent cause of accidents. 7

Another frequent cause of inconvenience and aggravation to motorists is to locate and park in a metered parking place and then discover the lack of a coin or coins of the necessary denomination to charge the meter.

The present invention contemplates a rotary money holder, easily and quicklyiristalled on all types of moi ice tor cars and trucks, which provides a means of keeping coins in all necessary and convenient denominations as Well as paper money and/ or toll coupons readily accessible to the driver of a motor vehicle, thereby eliminating a source of inconvenience to motorists and a cause of congestion and accidents at toll stations.

Accordingly, it is the general object of this invention to provide a novel holder for legal tender in various forms and denominations.

Another object of the invention is to. provide an improved device capable of holding a supply of coins of all denominations as well as tokens, paper money, and/0r toll coupons and the like.

Still another object of the invention resides in the provision of a novel holder for legal tender which may be easily installed in practically any type of motor vehicles, e. g., passenger cars, trucks, buses and the like.

A further object of the invention is to provide a novel money holder for motor vehicles, the money-containing part of which may be easily demounted and removed from the motor vehicle as a precaution against possible theft.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of an improved money holder which is simple and compact in constructiomfoolproof in operation, and which may be made commercially available at very reasonable cost.

Another generalobject of the invention is to reduce traffic accidents, traffic congestion and inconvenience to motorists at toll collection stations.

These and other objects and advantages will be apparent to those conversant with the art from a reading of the following description and subjoined claim in conjunction with the annexed drawing in which,

Figure 1 is a fragmental side elevation, partly in section of the interior of a typical motor vehicle showing a preferred form and installation of the invention;

Figure 2 is a top plan view of the preferred embodiment of the invention;

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken on line 3-3 of Figure 2; and v Figure 4 is an enlarged elevational view of a detail of construction.

With continued reference to the drawings and first, particularly to Figure 1, there is shown a fragment of the drivers location in the passenger compartment of a typical motor vehicle including an instrument panel or dashboard 10 extending the enter Width of the passenger compartment and formed, in the usual manner, with an under-turned flange portion 12. The preferred installation and location of the novel money holder, indicated generally by reference numeral 14, is by attachment under the dashboard, to the flange portion 12 by means which will hereinafter appear. In such an installation the money holder assumes an inverted position. However, it will be understood that the money holder may be installed in other locations according to the wishes and convenience of the driver and the structure of the vehicle and, in different locations, may be oriented in an upright, inverted or intermediate position. isfactory locations include, for example, the top or front of the dashboard, the sun visor (not shown), steering column, etc.

Referring now to Figure 3, the money holder 14 is shown in upright position and comprises two principal elements, a base or adapter 16 and a body member 18. These elements have been illustrated and, for ease and inexpensiveness of fabrication, preferably are fabricated of tough plastic material as by pressure molding or like operation, but may be made of other materials and methods if desired.

Other sat-,

Member 18 is generally cylindrical in configuration and contains a plurality of circumferentially spaced vertical bores 20, 22, 24, 26 and 28 each slightly larger in diameter than the other and adapted freely to receive United States one cent, nickel, dime, quarter and halfdollar coins, respectively, indicated diagrammatically at 30, 32, 34, 36 and 38. The circular arrangement of the coins bores makes it possible to include all denominations of coins currentlyin popular use while holding the device to relatively compact dimensions. ber, however, may be modified by the elimination of a bore further to reduce size or by the addition or substitution of a special diameter bore for accommodating tokens such as are frequently sold for use as legal tender at toll stations and on public conveyances.

Inasmuch as all the coin bores are similar, varying only in diameter, only the half-dollar bore 28 will be described in detaiL; As best shown in Figure 3, bore 28 is open at its upper end and closed at the bottom as at 40 by a portion of the bottom wall of body member 18. p The upper surface of the body member 18 is formed with an arcuate lip 42 which overhangs a major portion of the upper periphery of bore 28. It will be seen from Figure 2 that lip 42 describes a circular sector materially in excess of 180 degrees and preferably approximately 270 degrees. It will further be seen that, taking, as a datum, the part of bore 28 in closest proximity to the circumferential surface of body member 18 as the front, the lip -42 overhangs the rear and sides of the bore and is symmetrical with respect to a radius of the body member drawn through the center of the bore.

As best appears in Figure 2, the ends 44 and 46 of lip 42 are substantially parallel to eachother and to the body member radius mentioned above and are undercut so as to form parallel guide walls 48 and 50 extending to the circumferential surface of the body member. Inasmuch as these guide walls, in conjunction with the undersides of end portions 44 and 46 of the lip and the upper surface 52 of the common circumferential wall of bore 28 and the body member, define a coin removal slot, Walls 48 and 50 are spaced an amount equal to the diameter of the bore and have a vertical dimension slightly in excess The body memof the thickness of the particular coin accommodated by I the bore. 1

A compression spring 54, disposed within the bore and having a convex upper surface, acts'against bottom surface 40 to urge the coins 38 into mutual abutting relation and the top-most coin into abutment with lip 42. The number of coins of a given thickness which may be contained in a bore of given axial length is limited solely by the height of spring 54 when solid or fullycompressed. Accordingly, it is preferred that a spring having as few turns, coils or loops as possible while having sufficient strength to support the weight of the coins be used in order to utilize the greatest part of the bore for holding coins.

Between a number of the coin bores, for example, 20, 22, 24 and 26, body member 18 contains radial slots 56, 58 and 60 each adapted to receive suitably folded currency, coupons and the like. Arcuate depressions or niches 62, in the body member adjacent the exterior ends of each slot permit insertion of the fingers to facilitate removal of the contents of the slot.

Body member 18 is formed with a through axial bore 64, adapted freely to receive an attachment screw 66 and concentrically enlarged at its lower end as at 68 to accommodate a compression spring 70 and further enlarged to form a concentric circular recess 72 receiving a preferably plastic disc 74 of mounting base 16. A mounting stud 76 having an upper portion 78 provided with an internally threaded socket 80 and a lower portion 82 carrying external threads 84 and having said portions separated by an annular radial flange 86 is molded or otherwise fixedly disposed in disc 74 with its axis perpendicular to and the 4 upper surface of the flange flush with the upper surface of the disc.

The base 16 may be installed bydrilling a suitable hole 88 for the reception of portion 82 of the mounting stud in, for example, dashboard flange 12, and securing the base as by means of a nut 90 turned onto threads 84 from the reverse side of the dash. Body member'18 is mounted on base 16 by placing spring 70 around upper section 78 of stud 76 so that it bears on flange 86 to prevent wearing of plastic disc 74, slipping the body member down over the stud so that section 78 enters bore 64 and screwing reduced threaded portion 92 of screw 66 into socket 80, partially compressing spring 70. A metal washer 94 disposed between the upper end of spring 70 and the upper end Wall of enlargement 68 protects the plastic material of the body member from wear.

Screw 66 is preferably formed with a prominent, knurled head 96, the underside of which carries a bearing surface 98 opposing a raised boss 100 on the upper surface of and concentric with body member 18. A washer 102 disposed between surface 98 and boss 100 provides an antifriction and thrust bearing for the body member 18 maintained there against by the action of spring 74. From the structure thus far described, it is apparent that body member is resiliently mounted and freely rotatable about stud 76 and may be easily and quickly demounted by removal of screw 66 as a precaution against possible theft while the vehicle is left unattended. In this regard, it will be understood that washers 94 and 102 may be molded into the respective adjacent portions of the plastic body or cemented'or otherwise suitably secured thereto to eliminate inconvenience and the possibility of loss when the body member is removed.

An eccentric bore 104, enlarged at its upper end 106, extends through body 18 and freely slidably receives a sleeve-like detent plunger 108 having a substantially hemispherical lower end 110 and formed at its opposite or upper end with a flange or lip 112. A compression spring 114 disposed within plunger 108 reacts against an abutment screw 116 threadedly secured in upper end 106 of bore 104, resiliently urges the lower end 110 of the plunger out of the bore and into the aligned one of a plurality of hemispherical depressions 118 provided in the upper surface of disc 74. Depressions 188 are preferably equal in number to the coin bores and so located relative thereto that .the successive detent coaction between the end 110 of the plunger and each of the depressions upon rotation of the body member successively locates and maintains a respective bore in a predetermined position most accessible-to the motorist, such position in the illustrated preferred installation being with the bore facing outwardly from the dash panel 10.

Preferably, the circumferential surface of member 18 is suitably inscribed, as shown in Figure l, to indicate the denomination of coin or currency contained in each bore or slot respectively, such inscriptions being provided in duplicate and relatively inverted at the top and bottom of member 18 so as to be readable in both upright and inverted installations of the money holder.

Flange 112 on the detent plunger 112 coacts with the shoulder defined between bore 104 and its enlarged upper portion 106 to limit the movement of the plunger out of the bore to the extent required to fully engage depressions 118, thus precluding complete expulsion of the plunger by spring 114 when the body member is removed from the base.

The operation of the device, manifest from the foregoing description, is as follows:

The respective coin bores are filled by inserting coins of the corresponding denomination, one at a time, under ends 44, 46 of lip 42 and pushing each into the bore. The first coin in each bore engages the convex upper surface of spring cap 54 forcing the cap downwardly, compressing spring 52 in the process. Subsequent coins re? quire the compression of spring 52 by digital pressure on the topmost coin in the bore.

Currency, coupons and the like are inserted by first folding them to proper size and then slipping each into an appropriate slot.

For removal of coins, the body member is rotated to bring the bore of the desired denomination to the forefront. The detent construction will prevent rotation due to vibration of the motor vehicle and the necessary coin may be withdrawn with a single hand by obvious methods. Access to and removal of the content of the slots may be achieved by like procedure. It is pointed out that, for the sake of simplicity and reduced manufacturing costs, detents are provided in the disclosed embodiment only for the coin bores but it will be appreciated that the slots flanking a particular coin bore are accessible when the coin bore is held in position by its detent.

The invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. The present embodiment is therefore to be considered illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by the appended claim rather than the foregoing description and all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claim are therefore intended to be embracedthere- What is claimed and desired to be secured by United States Letters Patent is: i

For use in motor vehicles, a holder for legal tender comprising a discoid base member having a stud member extending coaxially therethrough, means for fixedly securing one end of said stud to a selected support in a motor vehicle, a cylindrical body member having a coaxial circular recess in one end face adapted to receive, freely and with substantial clearance, at least a major portion of said discoid member, means defining a stepped coaxial bore in said body member adapted to receive the other end of said stud and having a relatively large diameter portion adjacent said circular recess and forming an annular shoulder at its juncture with the remainder of said bore, individual bearing means on said annular shoulder and discoid member, coil spring means disposed within said large diameter bore portion in surrounding relation to said other end of said stud and normally compressed between said bearing means, and manually operable fastening means extending through said remainder of said bore and engaging said other end of said stud to maintain said body member removably on said discoid base member.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Great Britain of 1855 

